Press Release from FEARnet

Los Angeles, CA, April 5 2010 – Where else could Legally Blonde meet The Ring? FEARnet, the world’s premier horror, thriller and suspense website will unleash an animated- dark humor-thriller with double the trouble, Mari-Kari. Mari and Kari are identical twins. They’re best friends and never apart. Mari is the liveliest girl you’ll ever meet. Kari is too. Her problem: she’s dead. From there it just gets weird. Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210, Charmed and current contestant on Dancing with the Stars) provides the voices for both Mari and Kari. Series is scheduled to debut this June on FEARnet.com.

Mari-Kari centers around a grade school girl and her super-spooky, revenge minded wraith-of-a sister. Calamity and hilarity are hard–wired in. Set in the ordinary world of Mari, viewers see how her supernatural sisterly bond affects her life at home, at school, on the bus, at the mall – and how her life and her sister’s lack of one makes them a very scary pair. Theirs is a relationship that has dire affects for anyone who tries to get in the middle of it. A cast of unforgettable characters round out the Mari/Kari duel, from Shari – the Perez Hilton of Gilles de Rais Elementary to Larry – a lovable dead kid who lives in the shed behind Mari and Kari’s house.

The animated series’ tongue-in-cheek action unfolds over eight, 1-2 minute episodes built in flash and inspired by Japanese Anime. Jody Schaeffer is the director as well as the writer and creator. Executive producers are Austin Reading and Jim Burns. Keith Fay also serves as a writer for the series.

“We are so excited to take our original programming to a new level by producing our first series inspired by the Japanese Anime style,” said Diane Robina, President of FEARnet. “FEARnet has a proven track record of keeping our finger on the pulse of popular culture, and Mari-Kari combines this unique and innovative visual style with one of Hollywood’s favorite mean girls, Shannen Doherty. Fans are going to love it.”

Mari-Kari begins with Mari as she returns to school after the recent and unexplained death of her sister, Kari. The annual Sadie Hawkins dance is quickly approaching, and in a loose nod to Steven King’s Carrie, we will see Mari get picked on and ostracized – not because she’s a freak – but because she’s just too darn sweet. A hilarious mix of karma and carnage ensues as Kari unleashes her wrath on the shallow, narcissistic and unsuspecting students who torment sweet Mari. The first season concludes with a bizarre twist that pits sister against sister.